Thoughts on phytoplankton

[BAMatter]

Pros/cons? Looking to add some biodiversity to my 75 gallon. Been running for about 3 months now, have a small collection of euphyllia, some zoas, and acans. Fairly low bioload of fish- Harptail blenny, Dispar Anthias, Molly miller blenny, YWG/pistol, and 3 PH cardinals. Also a miscellaneous CUC. My fuge is packed with chaeto (Triton Method) and looking to add some layers of life. Any input is great, I’ve never added phyto before and don’t want to blindly dump anything in my tank.

Thanks .

 

[RobB'z Reef]

Pros/cons? Looking to add some biodiversity to my 75 gallon. Been running for about 3 months now, have a small collection of euphyllia, some zoas, and acans. Fairly low bioload of fish- Harptail blenny, Dispar Anthias, Molly miller blenny, YWG/pistol, and 3 PH cardinals. Also a miscellaneous CUC. My fuge is packed with chaeto (Triton Method) and looking to add some layers of life. Any input is great, I’ve never added phyto before and don’t want to blindly dump anything in my tank.

Thanks .

I really believe in its added value for biodiversity in feeding zooplankton, copepods and arguably some soft/lps corals and clams not too mention helping with general nutrient levels (maintaining them over an ULN condition). I don't personally see any cons other than potential expense if you do not culture your own. Should you culture your own you'd be trading some time for money, but it's just not that time intensive IMO. If you're interested in learning more about it I put out a video on culturing your own at home to save to that expense. There is a point where buying it is plausibly a better option and that is if you are running a very small nano system where your demand isn't that great. Beyond that it has value in being a fun learning part of the hobby too.

 

[Smoke-Town]

I'm a believer in live phyto dosing daily or weekly. It's the most abundant food on the planet and doesn't occur naturally in our tanks. It probably has tons of benefits we aren't even aware of starting from the bottom of the food chain. Just start with low doses like the bottles usually say to. I've never seen anything bad happen from dosing it or anything bad happening when you stop dosing it...but plenty of people have 10 plus year tanks that never have dosed it so it doesn't seem necessary either.

 

[BAMatter]

I'm a believer in live phyto dosing daily or weekly. It's the most abundant food on the planet and doesn't occur naturally in our tanks. It probably has tons of benefits we aren't even aware of starting from the bottom of the food chain. Just start with low doses like the bottles usually say to. I've never seen anything bad happen from dosing it or anything bad happening when you stop dosing it...but plenty of people have 10 plus year tanks that never have dosed it so it doesn't seem necessary either.

Dose directly to the display, or fuge? I plan on adding another bottle of pods to my fuge at the same time.

 

[BAMatter]

I really believe in its added value for biodiversity in feeding zooplankton, copepods and arguably some soft/lps corals and clams not too mention helping with general nutrient levels (maintaining them over an ULN condition). I don't personally see any cons other than potential expense if you do not culture your own. Should you culture your own you'd be trading some time for money, but it's just not that time intensive IMO. If you're interested in learning more about it I put out a video on culturing your own at home to save to that expense. There is a point where buying it is plausibly a better option and that is if you are running a very small nano system where your demand isn't that great. Beyond that it has value in being a fun learning part of the hobby too.

Cool, thanks!

 

[Smoke-Town]

Dose directly to the display, or fuge? I plan on adding another bottle of pods to my fuge at the same time.

I always dose straight to the display tank. I'm sure any place with decent flow would be fine. Just make sure it's after the skimmer chamber if you go in the sump

 

[damsels are not mean]

I think consistent phyto dosing is both cheaper and more effective than adding bottled pods. They reproduce quickly in a tank with abundant algae. I don't think I'd ever add pods to my tanks specifically. I'd only buy pods if I wanted to culture a specific species to rear larvae.

 

[damsels are not mean]

You can also easily do phyto with just an air pump and a soda bottle if you have a window. Or cheap lights from amazon.

 

[Jay'sReefBugs]

It's the blood of any reef system

 

[dmsc2fs]

This is my almost most basic setup. I would say that you can't get easier than this but I have to go take another photo to show you where my excess phyto is disposed of for the uber most basic pyto system.

 

[dmsc2fs]

For a few weeks I was trying to get a Ruby Red Dragonet to pull through QT. I was hatching shrimp every day to try and get it to eat. I had an abundance of shrimp and phyto so I started dumping it in this bin. Now all my water changes and excess phyto go into it. Every once in a while I scoop out a bunch of brine shrimp and send them into my tank. Beyond that it gets a banana peel every once in a while.

 

[Jerrym21]

I dose Phyto daily and don't see any cons. I culture my own and harvest 8-9, 10oz bottles per week. I also keep a 10 gallon tank to breed brine shrimp that also get fed Phyto daily along with a little hard boiled egg yoke. Both the Phyto and gut loaded shrimp go into my display daily. It's super easy to culture your own of both.

 

[BAMatter]

This is my almost most basic setup. I would say that you can't get easier than this but I have to go take another photo to show you where my excess phyto is disposed of for the uber most basic pyto system.

So, once you start to culture… say those 2 bottles you have- how long do those last? It seems like an awful lot of phyto, but I’m new to this concept and trying to understand a bit.

 

[dmsc2fs]

It is way too much phyto. The only reason I use the bottles I use is because I had them. I have 4 of them and I have 2 going and 2 cleaned, sanitized and dry. Every once in a while I swap out a bottle with a new one. Every 1-2 weeks I fill up a pair of 1L bottles and put them in my fridge. The rest is dumped into the bin in my back yard leaving about 1" left in the bottle. It is topped up with new water and the process starts again.

I dose in my tank randomly-when I remember to. You can use much smaller bottles. Honestly any random bottle you have should work just fine.

 

[BAMatter]

It is way too much phyto. The only reason I use the bottles I use is because I had them. I have 4 of them and I have 2 going and 2 cleaned, sanitized and dry. Every once in a while I swap out a bottle with a new one. Every 1-2 weeks I fill up a pair of 1L bottles and put them in my fridge. The rest is dumped into the bin in my back yard leaving about 1" left in the bottle. It is topped up with new water and the process starts again.

I dose in my tank randomly-when I remember to. You can use much smaller bottles. Honestly any random bottle you have should work just fine.

Ok, and does it stay alive in the fridge? And for how long?

 

[cdw79]

Seeing most people's operations going on in houses (some with some nice looking backyards too!) Any tips for those of us living in apartments or other close quarters? I'd like to culture pods, phyto, brine, etc but my 500 SF apartment seems to say otherwise lol.

This is going to sound bizarre, but is there any way to successfully do any of the above in a cabinet?? My small window sill doesn't have much capacity haha

 

[dmsc2fs]

Ok, and does it stay alive in the fridge? And for how long?

It will stay alive in the fridge for quite some time. I shake it every time I think about it and you will notice over time that more and more of it is settling to the bottom. I believe this is die-off but I am not a biologist. If I look at the bottle and it is mostly clear that tells me I waited longer than I should have to use or replace it. Normally this is 2-3 weeks.

 

[dmsc2fs]

Seeing most people's operations going on in houses (some with some nice looking backyards too!) Any tips for those of us living in apartments or other close quarters? I'd like to culture pods, phyto, brine, etc but my 500 SF apartment seems to say otherwise lol.

This is going to sound bizarre, but is there any way to successfully do any of the above in a cabinet?? My small window sill doesn't have much capacity haha

Yes, you can do the same thing under a grow light.

The problem you may run into is you should keep phyto in a separate area from anything that eats it. if you put the phyto and pod containers next to each other you will likely find you have one pod container and another pod container with really fat pods in it

 

[SlugSnorter]

Pros/cons? Looking to add some biodiversity to my 75 gallon. Been running for about 3 months now, have a small collection of euphyllia, some zoas, and acans. Fairly low bioload of fish- Harptail blenny, Dispar Anthias, Molly miller blenny, YWG/pistol, and 3 PH cardinals. Also a miscellaneous CUC. My fuge is packed with chaeto (Triton Method) and looking to add some layers of life. Any input is great, I’ve never added phyto before and don’t want to blindly dump anything in my tank.

Thanks .

feeding phyto is key to keeping some species, particularly helpful to clams and dusters. However, I am not super sure about it making the tank more biodiverse, it is usually killed off by our filtration. I would recommend a few things biodiversity wise if you want to add more: a small bit of bottled bac can help, Ive heard interesting things about PNS substrate sauce, small bits of liverock and live sand can be good, adding a few strains of pods is good, specially if you have a fuge

 

[BaghdadBean]

Seeing most people's operations going on in houses (some with some nice looking backyards too!) Any tips for those of us living in apartments or other close quarters? I'd like to culture pods, phyto, brine, etc but my 500 SF apartment seems to say otherwise lol.

This is going to sound bizarre, but is there any way to successfully do any of the above in a cabinet?? My small window sill doesn't have much capacity haha

I used to culture phyto, brine shrimp, and copepods on a shelf with nothing more than a 24” fluorescent 2 bulb shop light fitted with some cheap Home Depot plant bulbs, some mason quart jars and a Whisper air pump. I used four jars total, and kept up a pour from one jar into the other cycle for years. The heat from the light fixture kept the temp steady during winter, and during summer I just aimed a fan on it. Super low budget and it provided plenty for my tanks.